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November 2, 2009 6:01 AM PST

Maingear introduces clean-lined Shift gaming PC

by Rich Brown
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Boutique gaming PC vendor Maingear launched a brand new full tower PC Monday morning. The all-steel aluminum-wrapped, steel-skeletoned Shift takes a page from last year's limited-edition Voodoo Omen desktop by rotating the motherboard 90 degrees clockwise, facing the ports you normally find on the back panel up on the top of the system instead. The result, Maingear says, is improved heat management, as the design works with heat's natural tendency to rise.

Maingear's new Shift gaming PC

(Credit: Maingear)

Regardless of the heat benefits, (we've seen plenty of PCs work just fine with a traditional layout), the result of the rotated motherboard clearly makes an impact on the look and feel of the Shift. With monitor and peripheral cables plugged in to the top and hidden under a removable, vented cover, both the front and the back of the system cut a clean profile.

(More pics and starting price after the jump.)

A top-down shot of the Shift, sans cable cover.

(Credit: Maingear)

Inside the system, Maingear has gone with a familiar compartmentalized design, sectioning off the power supply at the bottom of the case. It also features an ever-popular "passive backplane" for the hard drives, which means Maingear lined up the drive power and data cables behind the hard drives, letting you simply slide the drives in and pop them out with out any cable fuss. Each hard drive tray can also accommodate either a single 3.5-inch drive, or a pair of 2.5-inch solid state hard drives.

(Credit: Maingear)

As impressive as we find the Shift's design, we like the starting price of the system even more. Of course you can load it up with an Intel X58 motherboard and Core i7 Extreme CPU, up to three graphics cards, and even a Xeon CPU later this winter (which Maingear is aiming at Apple's Mac Pro, so heads up, Cupertino). We're sure you'll be able to get the price just as high as you might from any other boutique vendor, but the case stays the same.

With a starting price of $2,199 for a P55-based configuration, even gamers who haven't won the lottery might consider the Shift on the strength of the case alone.

Rich Brown reviews desktops and various other components and peripherals for CNET. E-mail Rich.
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by phuongnwade November 2, 2009 6:40 AM PST
Quick note - heat doesn't rise it moves in all directions - hot air rises.
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by dumbspammers November 2, 2009 8:52 AM PST
Twenty-two hundred bucks for a game console? Seriously? And you *like* that price? I build my own PCs, and I've never spent more than $750 for the parts at retail. My performance ratings always equal or exceed "top-end" boutique PCs, so I can only assume (1) Rich Brown is WAAAY overpaid, since he thinks a $2200 PC is inexpensive, and (2) Maingear knows a sucker when they see one.

Or did Maingear perhaps *give* the $2200 PC to Brown as a "review unit" in exchange for the free advertising on cnet.com?
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by rhbrown November 2, 2009 9:05 AM PST
Yawn...
by Chebwa November 2, 2009 10:01 AM PST
+1 for Brown. I hate when editors engage trolls. It makes the entire website look unprofessional.
by euge963 November 2, 2009 10:41 AM PST
The voodoo cost around the same price. You dont get it they are not aiming to sell this computer to people who are techies already. They are targeting the people who want to first buy a computer, then start playing the most intensive games out there. thats it.

There are a lot of us techies out there who can easily build this exact computer with a different case of course for around 1k or less...

there are also a lot of people who will never learn what ram looks like, yet still want to have the greatest computer money can buy.
by iamarcin November 2, 2009 10:52 AM PST
I agree with dumbspammers... I don't see how you can call him a troll.
750 will get you a pc to run any game out there. If you chose the right parts and put it together yourself.
If this case is soooooo good then why does it need water cooling for the cpu?(PIC)
Antec300 sells for ~$50 on NewEgg. comes with 4 huge fans. And looks better then this monstrosity.
by Petriedish November 2, 2009 9:56 PM PST
lol@iamarcin. you think its a bad thing that they put in a water cooler.
by iamarcin November 3, 2009 10:32 AM PST
"lol@iamarcin. you think its a bad thing that they put in a water cooler"

I am just saying that you don't need it if the case is cool enough. I have water cooling myself on my i7 and I appreciate its benefits. I also have this case and i and am very happy.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
by thallwyn November 2, 2009 9:05 AM PST
Hey Rich, quick note - it's a steel skeleton wrapped in aluminum...
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by rhbrown November 2, 2009 9:20 AM PST
Thanks, Chris, will update. Thallwyn = Maingear CTO Chris Morley.
by Morndenkainen November 2, 2009 9:49 AM PST
Steel + Aluminum + heat = stupid... Steel rusts, which acellerates the oxidisation process of aluminum... Little bit of moisture in the air, a chip in the paint or some exposed surface, and you got a nice looking pile of potential thermite... Not saying thats gonna happen, but honestly, its a possibility.

The $2K mark isnt a bad range for a high end gaming computer. Its what people over the age of 20 expect to pay for a decent system. Its what a 286 with 1 mb of ram used to cost... Or an 8086 with 612kb... For thoes of you too young to understand or comprehend, 1kb = 1/1000000th of a gb.

So, in all actuality, the price isnt horrible.
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by Chebwa November 2, 2009 10:02 AM PST
Hold on... have you ever actually owned a computer before? I don't have a whole lot of RUSTED computers sitting around and I've been using steel/aluminum machines forever.
by Renegade Knight November 2, 2009 10:18 AM PST
You have the ingredients of thermite right, but your chemistry is off a bit. A few bits are missing before you would burn your house down.

I'd love to pick up a case and build a system.
by davidwarren November 2, 2009 11:20 AM PST
thermite? really?
by Petriedish November 2, 2009 10:00 PM PST
Can we get a link to the website?
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